OCS Limited (NZ) 3.37

At the turn of the twentieth century, one man's vision of a customer focused business set the scene for centuries of extraordinary expansion. The man with a vision, Frederick William Goodliffe, probably never envisaged that the window cleaning service he set up in 1900 - aptly named the New Century Window and General Cleaning Company, which employed one part-time man equipped with a ladder, pail and pushcart, would become a global integrated facilities services giant.

In 1930 growing demand for office cleaning, coupled with the commercial drive of Frederick's sons, prompted the establishment of a new company called Office Cleaning Services. Frederick Goodliffe handed over to a co-leadership team of his three sons, who famously shared a custom-made triple desk. In the hands of the new generation, services expanded and new markets were penetrated.

The era of the third generation was one of continuing growth of services and expansion into international markets, including a pioneering launch into aircraft cleaning services in 1966. As was typical in the 1950s and 60s, the Group's strategy focused on acquisition and diversification.

The fourth generation saw it as their task to consolidate and overhaul the Group's strategic approach and the approximately 200 brands that had been accumulated. They began by determining the group's key strengths and assessing what the market wanted. The core skills that had been created over the years were pulled together and consolidated in the form of an integrated range of services revolving around the client. They also continued to expand overseas – into countries including Thailand, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India and China - via acquisitions, partnerships, franchises and organic growth.

In 2004 OCS arrived in New Zealand via the acquisition of Quality Services Enterprises Ltd (QSE) which, in the 1930s, was a division of the Internal Affairs Department. OCS is now one of the New Zealand’s largest cleaning and facilities services organisations.

The Group's development remains focused on Frederick's core principle – to organise the services around the customer. As a Group advert from 1953 reads: "We are proud of our past...we have confidence in our future!"